Israel seeks after-school programs for autistic youth amid manpower shortage

• Published date: 24 March 2024
• Author: URI SELLA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

At this stage, it is unclear how the government company, IACC, will succeed in recruiting the personnel that the ministry itself has struggled to find, and considering that there are also major staff shortages in the afternoon programs

Trying to cut school hours for children with special needs

The proposed solution came about following discussions held in recent weeks at the Education Ministry regarding shortening daily school hours next year. Before the opening of the current year, the ministry announced its intention to cut 45 minutes from children's study hours, which would end at 4 p.m., instead of at 4:45 p.m. However, the Supreme Court blocked the decision overall, with the exception of atypical cases.

The result is that only 15% of the frameworks across the country received ministry approval to shorten the school day. In total, 648 frameworks were approved – 4,178 classes and kindergartens all in all.

Still, in the wake of the ongoing war since October 7, the number of frameworks that have reduced their school hours is likely much higher.

The data, which was made available following a request from an organization called The Movement for the Promotion of a Fair Society, revealed significant disparities in human resources between the different districts. In the center district, at least 28% of the frameworks shortened the school day, in Tel Aviv – about 27%, in Jerusalem's district, 17%, and in the ultra-Orthodox district, about 15%. In the southern district, about 12%, and the rest present single-digit percentages – in the northern district, Beersheba approved only seven requests, in Haifa only two, and in...